Exodus 25:1-2 “And Jehovah spoke to Moses saying,² Tell the children of Israel to take an offering for Me. From every man whose heart moves him [to give willingly] you shall take My offering.” (Amplified Version)

 

Moses had been commissioned by Jehovah to build a sanctuary for Him to meet with His people.  Moses was given exact measurements, types of materials to be used and how the furniture and vessels inside the tabernacle were to be built.

Notice God never said “Get a building committee together and have a fund raiser or start a pledge drive.”  He simply wanted to people to have a heart for a place to meet with them.

What were they to bring IF THEIR HEARTS WERE MOVED: gold, silver, and bronze. blue, purple and scarlet material, fine linen, goat hair, rams’ skin dyed red, porpoise (or seal) skins, acadia wood, oil for lighting, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones and setting stones for the ephod and for the breastpiece.

Now I ask myself and now you; Has God ever ask you to willing give any of those items.  They were in the desert, running from a crazed dictator.   But they had ask the Egyptians for goods to take with them.  All I can think is everyone but Pharoah wanted them out of their land!!

Moses was to ask if anyone would bring any of these things to give WILLINGLY to Jehovah.  No guilt trip was to be put on them.  No budgets were made to make it happen.  No reward was to be given in return except the blessing of pleasing Almighty God.

Now before someone comments, let me say it for you. We don’t live in that time period. Things are different today.  Right?  I heard you out there!

God is the same, yesterday, today and forever.  If He has a project that He wants done, He can move on the hearts of the people to get it done.  The problem is “the heart moved” may not be listening.

We are often like Pharoah more than like the children of Israel. Our hearts have hardened.  Like Pharoah we want to rule our own kingdom and call it His.

Giving is not about money and material things all the time either.  It is about having a heart to serve God and people.  It is about showing the image of His son in our lives.   Even as I have studied this week, I have been convicted of not being an image-bearer.  I am so thankful that Jesus loves me even when I fall.  I John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  The problem is we don’t show grace to each other.

Giving hope, love, faith, encouragement is all a part of bring an offering willingly.  Cheerfully giving that’s what God loves.  There is a lost world all around us.  We have to stop building our own kingdom and reach a lost and dying world for Jesus.  Listen for His voice! He still speaks!  He speaks through His Word, His Holy Spirit and His people.

Now the rest of the story !

Exodus 36:

36 “The Lord has gifted Bezalel, Oholiab, and the other skilled craftsmen with wisdom and ability to perform any task involved in building the sanctuary. Let them construct and furnish the Tabernacle, just as the Lord has commanded.”2 So Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and all the others who were specially gifted by the Lord and were eager to get to work. 3 Moses gave them the materials donated by the people of Israel as sacred offerings for the completion of the sanctuary. But the people continued to bring additional gifts each morning. 4 Finally the craftsmen who were working on the sanctuary left their work. 5 They went to Moses and reported, “The people have given more than enough materials to complete the job the Lord has commanded us to do!”6 So Moses gave the command, and this message was sent throughout the camp: “Men and women, don’t prepare any more gifts for the sanctuary. We have enough!” So the people stopped bringing their sacred offerings. 7 Their contributions were more than enough to complete the whole project.

When was the last time we heard, STOP GIVING.  There is enough?

God will supply all we need when it is HIS project to be finished.  He desires to dwell in the hearts and lives of His people.

This is from our study: A Woman’s Heart: God’s dwelling place by Beth Moore.

We also are studying in Sunday School the book of Exodus so you will probably being seeing much of what I am learning from these wonderful lessons in the Old Testament.

https://youtu.be/5z0vViy0uLU Whole Heart by Brandon Heath